The main use of quantum technology might not be to hack existing systems but to create unhackable communication networks of the futureThe Washington Post’s columnist David Ignatius moonlights as a pacey novelist. His latest book,The Quantum Spy, is a thriller that touches upon the space race of our times: the great power contest to develop a quantum computer, and able to work so like a flash that it can crack nowadays’s uncrackable codes. Such a machine would be revolutionary. Modern e-commerce depends on encryption to protect confidential information. It is used to authenticate our identities and ensure the integrity of the data. To be able to break such codes would expose us all. Ignatius’s fiction is grounded in fact: the US National Institute of Standards and Technology thinks that within 15 years the first quantum computer will emerge to defeat the most prevalent forms of encryption.
However,cryptography remains a game of cat and mouse between codemakers and codebreakers. As like a flash as one group creates codes, another tries to break them. Unbreakable ciphers sometimes topple short. “Post-quantum cryptography” already exists, or even before quantum computers achieve. Earlier this year academics suggested,controversially, that they had solved the maths to obtain “quantum-resistant” the main cryptography used on the internet. The main use of quantum technology might not be to hack existing systems but to create unbreakable protection for communication networks of the future. China claims to have launched such a network this year.
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Source: guardian.co.uk